The Gala

“AAAAAH!” Stella shrieks.

“I know this song!” Your daughter adds in excitement, finally recognizing a song being played by the DJ.

*MUSIC PLAYING*

“YAHOO!” Everyone in the gala shouts in tune to the song. “~This is a celebration~!” Everyone shouts as they jump and dance. Stella and Cassie have been dancing to the music together, raising their hands up and swaying their hips as they stare and smile at each other.

As ‘Celebration by Kool and the Gang’ continues to play, Viv unceremoniously cuts in between Stella and Cassie. Viv wraps her arms around their shoulders before all three of them start singing, “~Celebrate good times, come on!~”. Viv waves all of you to join the three of them, which the rest of you don’t hesitate to do. Except for Becca.

You and the girls all dance together, staring teasingly at Becca who just watches your group make fools of yourselves with your singing and dancing. Well, considering how the gala is turning out, it’s actually Becca that’s making herself stick out like a sore thumb by not joining in. Now that the guests of the gala are finally letting loose.

The gala started off as a mild-mannered event. It had a seven course meal, a performance from a big band that played swing and jazz, and a fancy auction that sold off rare items — including the paintings of Vicente Montemayor that Lainey apparently donated.

As for what’s happening currently, if the disco dancing wasn’t much of a clue yet, the gala has devolved into its final form — a bunch of rich people tipsy from drinking unlimited amounts of champagne and other spirits dancing to the DJ that’s playing the greatest hits of the disco and post-disco era. It’s the reason why your group can shout at the top of its lungs, and the other guests don’t seem to mind.

Speaking of other guests…

“That’s not how you dance to disco music!” An older gentleman tells your group from out of nowhere, just as the music begins to change to the Bee Gees’ ‘You Should Be Dancing’.

“THIS… is how you dance to disco music!” the older gentleman shouts as the Bee Gees begin to sing. You and the girls back away and join Becca on the sidelines, as the older guest does his best Tony Manero impression of that iconic scene in Saturday Night Fever.

This older gentleman’s sudden joining in to your group’s fun isn’t actually a rare occurrence for this night. A lot of people have already come up to you during this part of the night. Now that the formal program is already over and everyone is just having fun and cutting loose.

Some of those who came up to you were introduced by Mr. Hoffman earlier in the night, while others just gravitated towards your considerably more ‘youthful’ group, like the older gentleman who’s actually doing pretty well at disco dancing for his age.

You’re assuming that the other guests are gravitating towards you because of the ‘Life of the Party’ trait you recently bought, but it could also be that these guests just like to party with a bunch of younger girls.

Thankfully, at least for the most part, they don’t overstay their welcome; and even more fortunately, Mr. Hoffman has, so far, given you space to enjoy your time with your girlfriends while he entertains his other guests.

“Shouldn’t you put a stop to this?” You surprisingly hear Becca ask, making you turn towards her; unclear who exactly she’s asking.

“I will. I’ll stop him before he has to do the splits. Otherwise, he’ll end up in a fucking wheelchair.” A woman next to Becca answers her. Becca notices that you’re looking in her direction and introduces you.

“Jay, this is Madame Lia Stanley.” Becca introduces you to her.

“Wait… I know that guy!” Viv shouts, and you realize a lot of the guests have crowded around the older gentleman that interrupted your group earlier. “Is that Mr. Stanley?” Viv adds, asking herself.

“Torrance! Don’t you dare do the fucking splits!” Madame Stanley shouts at the older gentleman, who immediately stops dancing, to the loud boos from the rest of the guests who were watching. Although, after Mr. Stanley bows to his audience, they all start laughing and applauding him.

“The split is part of the routine, you know!” Mr. Stanley shouts to Madame Lia, as he approaches her.

“Is being bedridden because you can’t walk after part of the routine too?” Madame Lia shouts back at him, getting a loud dismissive “Bah!” from Mr. Stanley.

“Oh my God! It is you guys! Madame Lia! Master Torrance!” Vivian shouts as she walks closer towards their group. Viv gives Madame Shelley cheek kisses, and weirdly bows as a greeting towards Master(?) Stanley.

“Vivian? Long time no see, my dear girl. You haven’t chosen to partake in another club, I hope?” Mr. Stanley asks her.

“Of course not. I just had to take a… sabbatical.” Viv replies.

“Then I hope to see you and your…” Mr. Stanley pauses to look at you and the rest of the girls with you before continuing, “... new friends with you at the club some time.” Mr. Stanley tells her.

“With that, may I introduce once again Madame Lia Stanley, and also Master Torrance Stanley— proprietors of the Red Rum VIP Lounge. The fetish club where Vivian and I met.” Becca introduces them both.

“Before you ask, it’s intentional.” Viv tells you.

“Ask what?” You ask in confusion, but there is actually a question you do want to ask.

“Is it a coincidence that my name is Torrance Stanley and I own a club called the Red Rum?” Mr. Stanley asks for you, making it clear he gets asked that a lot. Although that wasn’t the question you had in mind, you pretend that it is and nod.

“Like Vivian said, I take the blessings my name gives me. Heck, sometimes I even tell people Stephen got that character’s name from me, and people believe it sometimes.” Mr. Stanley tells you with a laugh.

Becca and Viv then proceed to introduce the rest of your group to the Stanleys. Your group learns that the Red Rum is an interconnected membership club that has locations in most major cities in the country; and that Becca, not Hoffman Enterprises, is one of their business partners that helped in their expansion.

After a few more minutes of small talk, the attention of the Stanleys are taken by someone else and they’re **** to say their farewells.

“Well, I hope to see all of you partake in the festivities in the Red Rum sometime. We’d be happy to have you.” Madame Lia tells all of you as a goodbye.

“Yes! As do I. I’d love to watch another game of TODD, Vivian. Those are always a blast to witness.” Mr. Stanley says before giving cheek kisses to Becca and Viv. Once the two have left the vicinity of your group, you finally let out a thought you’ve been holding onto since you learned that Becca and Viv knew of Mr. Stanley from their fetish club.

“Please tell me you haven’t fucked that guy before.” You say, cringing at the thought that your girlfriends might have had fun with a dirty old man like him. Granted, he seems like a nice guy; you still don’t want to imagine your girlfriends within his vicinity.

“Oh God, no!” Becca reacts in horror.

“Just because we have a kink doesn’t mean we don’t have standards.” Viv adds on as her answer, and you breathe a sigh of relief from it.

“Madame Lia, on the other hand…” Becca adds, no longer continuing what she needs to say for you to get her point.

“In any case, those two gave me an idea about making our night a little more festive.” Viv says with a crazy look in her eye.

“What’s that, V?” Maddy asks her.

“Shall we play a game?” Viv asks.

“NO!” Everybody involved in the previous TODD shouts back.

“That’s the naughty truth or dare game you told me you guys played before right, Stella?” Paige asks, after hearing everyone’s vehement refusal.

“Naughty truth or dare!? A most terrible understatement!” Viv reacts, back to the grandiose character she plays whenever she talks about the TODD.

“Okay, so if it’s not just naughty truth or dare, then what is it?” Paige asks to clarify.

“I’m glad you asked, my dear! You see… the TODD is one of the more brilliant inventions of yours—” Viv begins to dramatically do her spiel before Stella puts a stop to it immediately.

“It’s a naughty truth or dare.” Stella undercuts Viv.

“Hey!” Viv reacts in offense. “Rude!” Viv adds, annoyed at Stella’s interruption.

“You don’t get to call me rude after what you did this morning.” Stella playfully teases back, expertly lording Viv’s mistake over her. A situation you know can lead to actual resentment if she catches Viv on a bad day.

“You don’t get to lord that over her after you already forgave her, baby.” You tell your daughter.

“No~. She does.” Viv surprisingly concedes. “I’ve been forewarned and have accepted those consequences.” Viv adds, channeling as much ‘hurt-puppy-energy’ as she can muster.

“I’m going to have to veto that arrangement, then.” You tell both of them, before turning towards your daughter. “If you say you forgive her, then you forgive her.” You tell your daughter.

“Fine.” Stella concedes, a little too quickly. “I’ll just lord it over her when you’re not around.” Stella says under her breath, but loud enough for you and Viv to hear.

“Ooh~, that presumes we’ll be hanging out when your Dad isn't around. Is this similar to yours and Cassie’s arrangement mayhaps?” Viv, not missing a beat, teases Stella immediately.

“We don’t have an arrangement!” Cassie reacts defensively, getting the other girls to laugh teasingly at the two.

“Calm down, chica. You don’t need to sound like you don’t want an arrangement.” Tanya teases Cassie.

“Yeah~... Yeah! Hey! You’re the one who asked me for an arrangement! Why does it sound like you don’t want it now?” Stella asks Cassie.

“No! That’s not what I meant!” Cassie reacts in panic.

“You two realize that Viv just parkoured her way out of being the target for teasing, right?” Brooke jokingly points out.

“Oh, no. She’s onto me.” Viv jokes back.

“Girls, I know you two are still trying to figure out this whole thing between you two, but I hope you girls know that even if we tease, we support it wholeheartedly, and that we want you to be comfortable sharing things about your possible relationship with us.” Tanya tells the girls, trying to get both girls to relax after getting panicked by Viv.

“I second mommy’s sentiment.” Viv chimes in.

“I don’t like how you said ‘mommy’ there, Viv.” Tanya says while staring daggers at Viv.

“I third Tanya’s sentiment as well.” Becca says right after. “Being comfortable about these topics with one another would be necessary for our… I mean, necessary for your separate arrangements to feel like just an extension of your relationship with Jay.” Becca points out.

“So I’m assuming you don’t intend to have separate arrangements with your co-girlfriends, Becca?”

Author's Note: Lia Stanley's model (Princess Donna - Hub Link) is more of an Easter Egg for BDSM Porn fetishists than an actual casting. I'm not sure if I'll use her for any sexual scenes in the future so I won't be adding her to the Characters Page for now.